It is nice to have options, so I'm all for having the rear line OS handles, but most people won't use them. If you are doing any spins, looping the kite, or unhooking, you can't attach your leash to the rear handle or the leash gets twisted.

The only time I would use it is when I was self landing overpowered or I was launching or landing at a sketchy launch. In those cases I would switch the leash to the single rear line, but when riding I would have it on the below the bar leash attachment.

I haven't used the single front line attachments yet, but they seem pretty much the same as the single rear line release.

NYKiter wrote:Spiraling is a good sign, it shows it is working properly.

Spiraling is a good sign of you kite not being relauncheable. I'm not sure how to fit that in to any safety standard.

To me, a good kill-kite-power safety should kill the power of the kite with minimal disturbing of a kite session, whether or not this disturbance involves danger.
So whether you want to kill the kite power to self-land or to safe your behind when you're about to be dragged across the beach, you should be able to do it a clean way with an option to immediately ride out of the situation/pick up the bar and continue enjoying your day.

I agree with El Rudo, good single front line release systems, that are easy to re-ride, are the standard that most kite companies are doing now.
A few, like Ocean Rodeo, have a system that releases to two front lines and behaves well.
The OS handle is not something that I would clip a leash into to kite, it is something that is good to have to grab if everything at your front lines becomes completely fubar. That's why they have cloth loop handles for our hands. They are cheap to do at the manufacturing level and it can never hurt for companies to keep providing them on out bars.

The shape of kites and the attachment points have changed a lot since release systems were to the rears.
Back when everything was a C kite, and the wingtips were all relatively narrow (to the standards of C kites now) the way a kite released was different.
Kites back then were pumped to about 5 psi and they would sort of flag out like a Peter Lynn kite does, when released to a rear line.
Kites hold their shape better now, using improved Dacron materials, sewn with more reinforced strut to LE attachment points, and pumped to higher psi.
They also have bridles that further help hold their shape, and the front line attachment points on all the bow/delta/sle shapes are further forward (not right at a narrow wingtip), which all allows for the single front line release system to work.
They release similarly to a fifth line release, that many of the current model C kites have.
That is why the kite industry moved away from rear line release, five or more years ago.
But it's still not a bad idea to have OS handles for manual grabbing if something really messed up is happening with the front line system.

Edited: To make the language police happy.
Maybe it will slow down the useless emoticon spamming.
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Last edited by L0KI on Thu May 09, 2013 2:51 am, edited 5 times in total.

You guys know it is ok to just take the OS releases off and attach your lines straight to the bar right? Sure it may add a few more cents to produce but it is worth including in case some kiters want them, that way everyone is happy.